The best day of the year!
Better than Christmas, JA Day is when volunteers from
UNUM come and teach our students a lesson on community and economics.
I have only experienced JA Day as a second grade teacher, so this was a new experience for me in first grade. My favorite part of the JA experience is that the lessons prepared are based on Tennessee State Standards. Each lesson has 4-5 activities that keep students engaged and teach students about the importance of community and economics, while using educational vocabulary and using Best Teaching Practices.
Plus, I don't have to "teach" a thing! Everything is prepared, packaged, and brought to the classrooms! In other words...
A.W.E.S.O.M.E!!!
Meet our "teacher" for the day... Mr. White!
Our topic was
Our Families, and we touched on families, jobs, plans for the future, needs vs. wants, and map skills. Mr. White really connected with the kids. My students were eager to do the activities he brought and Mr. White certainly kept them engaged!
The lesson started with a booklet and stickers. Students read the booklet and placed the stickers where they matched.
The booklets were colorful, easy to read and understand, and they rhymed! The last page (not pictured) was where students could write about a job they perform around the house, and add a picture of themselves doing the chore.
Next, Mr. White put up a poster of a community and had my class compare and contrast the poster with their communities. (And the poster matched the outside of our booklet!)
My class discussed the different jobs they saw being performed on the poster. Talking about jobs created a segue to things people buy with the money they earn from their job. From there, my students were lead into a discussion between
needs and
wants.
My students made this list of
NEEDS:
Clothes, food, and a home (a place to stay warn and dry) I tried to add chocolate, but my students wouldn't let me.
Their list of
WANTS:
Xbox 360, skates, pets, fancy clothes, and my chocolate
But, in order to buy our needs and wants, one must have a job. We talked about what our plans are for our future jobs. We made a list of possible occupations and students drew and wrote about where they see themselves at the ripe, old age of 25.
Working hard!
Looking around, I found that I have quite a few future teachers in my classroom!
Pointing out the school where she will work.
Below, we have a lawyer:
And a police officer:
(now, I usually don't condone drawings of violence, but the student explained that it's all in the line of duty)
When everyone was finished, we collected the pictures and created a book!
After this activity we went to lunch. After lunch and recess, we came back and worked on map skills.
Mr. White brought the students to the carpet and they talked bout building communities. Students got to decide where to put different shops, buildings, and fun areas on the map. Then, students got their own maps and were allowed to create their own community, complete with naming their community.
All in all, it was a rockin' awesome day! My students enjoyed themselves, and didn't even realize that they
learned something! (I do love tricking students into learning!)
Each student earned a Certificate of Achievement, a magnet, a pencil, and a piece of candy.
Thank you, Mr. White! We had a wonderful day! (And thank you for joining our blog!)
